French Polishing and Bespoke Furniture
For furniture it’s best to use a satin or semigloss finish in either a latex or an oil – based paint . Never leave primer unpainted.
A: Wood is adaptable enough to receive either water- or oil – based paint , as long as you coat it with primer beforehand.
Wood primer should only be used on bare wood furniture. If your furniture has previously been painted or varnished, use a multi surface primer. For the decorative coat, look for paints labelled ‘for wood and metal’, such as gloss, satin and eggshell. If the piece has fine details like doors, start with these.
Unfinished wood should always be primed prior to painting . However, keep in mind that for wood such as cedar or redwood, oil – based primer is actually necessary as it penetrates deeper into the wood , helping to prevent tannin stains.
Oil – based paints also can irritate the skin. They can cause stomach upset if swallowed. There is a bigger problem, though: if someone swallows oil – based paint , and chokes on it, paint can get into the lungs. Mineral oil in the lungs can cause trouble breathing and pneumonia.
Oil Paint . The advantage to oil paint for furniture is that it can be applied over most surfaces and adheres well, since it saturates any porous surface and is self-leveling for easier application. Drying time between coats is long—up to 24 hours—but it does cure more quickly than water- based paints.
Advantages of Oil – Based Paint Oil – based paint is very durable and more resistant to low temperatures than latex. Application is smooth and provides great coverage. Oil – based paint may be applied to stained, chalky, and/or dirty surfaces. Oil paint is better at covering small imperfections or slightly damaged areas.
How Long Does It Take Oil Paint To Dry On Wood Or Metal? On a properly prepared wood or metal surface, oil paint will dry the same as on canvas. However, you would not want to paint on plain wood or metal without good surface preparation and a sealer and primer coat of gesso first.
Cons of oil -based paint . The main disadvantage of oil -based paint is the strong odour, which is quite invasive, and the paint does take significantly longer to dry, so care is required with any dusty work, and ensuring that nothing is likely to make contact with the wet surface.
These tips will help you minimize your brush strokes and remove distractions from the smooth, professional finish of your piece. Use the Right Brush for your Paint . Use Good Brush Technique. Paint in the Same Direction as the Wood Grain. Lightly sand in between each coat of paint and after final coat.
Latex and acrylic are the main types of water-based paints, and both can be used on furniture . These paints work well on slightly porous surfaces like wood , stone and wicker and hold up through light to moderate use .
Milk paint , which you can purchase as a powder or premixed, or even whip it up yourself at home, is a nontoxic and biodegradable paint option that’s great for use on wood furniture —and if you mix it with an equal part of bonding agent, you don’t need to sand the piece before beginning.
You should not use white paint as primer , as primer has a higher concentration of solids plus it contains an adhesive binder and acts as a sealant. A good quality primer is designed to provide the final finish coat with a better bonding surface than the bare surface itself, unlike white paint .
If you don’t seal pine with a primer , the first coat of paint will be blotchy, because pine absorbs paint (and other finishes) very unevenly. The second coat may correct these flaws somewhat, but because you don’t have a binding undercoat, the paint will probably begin peeling in a year or two.
Because it has a glue-like base, drywall primer helps the paint adhere properly. If you skip priming , you risk peeling paint , especially in humid conditions. Moreover, the lack of adhesion could make cleaning more difficult months after the paint has dried.